Unhappy Anniversary to Us

     Unhappy anniversary to us. This year marks four centuries since the first African Americans arrived (unwillingly) on our shores. We acted no more neighborly toward Native Americans, corralling tribes so we could take their land. Then in World War II, we incarcerated Japanese Americans but didn’t intern German Americans. Why? Maybe because “they” didn’t look like “us” who are lily white?     
     The recent wave of immigrants challenges us again. In the past we welcomed needy Europeans, who became the grandparents and great-grandparents of the majority of us. Yet now we don’t embrace needy Latin Americans, sometimes calling them crooks and social sponges, even though statistics reveal that in general, immigrants have been more law-abiding than native-born citizens and have actually boosted our economy.     
     Perhaps it’s time to heed the wisdom of Martin Luther King Jr.; Instead of building a wall to hold back a flood of humanity, we could “build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.” Maybe then we’d understand more clearly how to make good immigration decisions.     
     We’re embarrassed about how our ancestors treated various people throughout our country’s history, and I wonder whether our descendants will be shocked about how we treated Twenty-first Century Latin Americans. Will they have reason to call us racist because of what we did - or did not - do?   
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     Photo from the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.